Tom Mylan, co-owner of The Meat Hook in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, believes that buying large, unbutchered pieces of meat from a local farm or butcher shop means knowing where and how your food was raised, and getting meat that is more reasonably priced. It means getting what you want, not just what a grocery store puts out for sale — and tailoring your cuts to what you want to cook, not the other way around. For the average cook ready to take on the challenge, Tom Mylan’s The Meat Hook Meat Book (2014 Artisan) is the perfect guide: equal parts cookbook and butchering handbook, it will open readers up to a whole new world — start by cutting up a chicken, and soon you’ll be breaking down an entire pig, creating your own custom burger blends, and throwing a legendary barbecue.